[* imagine I wrote the first post on Use it Up a month and a half ago and this post came a fortnight after that. I actually started this challenge while on my blogging hiatus.]
I’ve been successful in not buying any products for the last fortnight, with encouragement from other Use-it-uppers on a simple living forum I belong to.
Here’s some thoughts from my first fortnight of not buying cosmetic products.
1. Avoiding special deals – find your previous “special deals” buys that you haven’t used
I nearly weakened when the new Priceline bag came out. A bag of full size products FREE if you buy $60 worth of products. I could stock up on my usual stuff and get a useable bag FULL, literally bursting, with goodies. And if I spend $100 I get free delivery which means I don’t have to go into the shop which I don’t have time for anyway.
Luckily the Internet froze before I could press buy. And then I remembered my previous Priceline bag purchases.
Mm ah! You guessed it. I haven’t used them up yet.
So I unearthed the two previous Pricelone bags – the hair one and the one before which was cosmetics. Maybe I should use these up first?
The two Priceline bags with SOME of the products
2. Use up the samples when travelling and don’t collect more.
Remember to take your stash of samples! On a recent trip I took day cream and night cream samples. About a week’s worth in both. And for body lotion, another free gift with product I received – this time a full size product. Soap was a bar I bought as a decorative item to go with the containers seen in the previous post. Shampoo and conditioners were the products I bought to get the Priceline hair bag. All these were unopened before our trip.
Cleanser and toner were decanted into travel size containers from products I bought a while ago. One set of these small containers is enough. I can refill as needed.
I didn’t collect the guest products at the BnB we stayed in. Who needs more products? It’s not frugal, if you don’t use the stuff. And most of the stuff is from China. I won’t buy cosmetics from China. They test on animals and don’t have the product control and environmental laws we have.
Two hotel minis with containers that I refill
3. When friends encourage you to buy: remember the bigger goals
Anyone have to combat the efforts of friends?
I have fiends/friends who try to get me to buy cosmetics.
“Hey,Strawberrynet have 10% off.”
“I’m selling Avon now.”
“You’ll be able to get some good stuff at Sephora when it opens.”
“You should try this product.”
Some are OK when I tell them I’m not buying anything until I use my stashup, others think I should just chuck things away and continue to try to encourage me to spend. The “just a few dollars” argument and the “you deserve it” one.
Funnily enough, one friend who tried to get me to buy, bemoans not being able to afford to buy a house and how much she hates renting and wishes she could replace broken whitegoods. OK, a lipstick won’t buy a house, but something has to give. My bigger goals are mortgage, travel, house and garden.
lucinda sans 
Your last sentence wraps it up nicely. Quite right, the funding for the priorities has to come out of somewhere. I’ve given up on taking hotel minis too, because I went, “Wow, free!” and then never used them – I like having little refillables, too.
Funny how we think “freebies” even when they’re really not. And even when they’re crap products that we wouldn’t buy.
Ha ha, clearly I am not that kind of friend. I annoy my friends in other ways, as in reminding them that shopping is not a competitive sport.. and saying, “Do you really need that?” I was at a meeting recently and one of the attendees was talking about all her latest purchases, and someone else said, “Ooh, don’t mention that in front of Jo, she’ll make you declutter something.” Clearly I have a reputation..
We all have a role in life, Jo. People at work know I’m a declutterer who tries to find good homes for my stuff. So I try to foist stuff onto others.
Oh Jo, I like it! My colleagues don’t know I’m like that, but my partner and family and close friends do!
You know, today I had time for a leg wax, and/or getting my nails done. I couldn’t fathom either. Not even from a money point of view, I just don’t like being idle whilst someone pampers me. I did enjoy the pharmacy and buying two very un Priceline things – hydrogen peroxide to get rid of pit stains (oh I am fun!) and a wheat heat bag (see, endless glamour here). God, I’m a grannie in a 30yo body, perhaps?